ok, im trying to buy an amp to run my 2 10" MTX Thunder 4000 subs. they are 4ohm. i am so confused on what to get now. ive been told everything from, a 100 watt amp will sufice, to you need an 800watt amp. using some common sense i came up with, since the subs are 200rms, i should have a 200x2 amp. now, comes the part i dont understand...should the subs be wired in parrallel or stereo? why is it that there is one amp that is 600x1 and 200x2 and another amp that is 800x1 and 200x2. where did that other 200 watts go??
also, some said i should wire my subs in parallel. ok, so then if i have this 600 or 800watt amp, im gonna toast the speakers. so what the hell does this all mean. should i find an amp that is stable down to 1ohm and is only 400watts, or should i wire the subs in stereo and get one of these giant 800watt amps? also i am a college student, that has doesnt have too much money to just throw away, so i want to be carefull on how much i spend. crutchfield suggested Infinity Kappa 202a. its 200Wx2 or 600X1. its also $329, is that about how much i need to spend to get an amp?

 

o yeah, another thing; the lady from crutchfield said that the 400WX1 amp that is stable to 1ohm, would blow my subs(4ohms) if i had them wired in parallel. she also said that the 200WX2 cahnnel amp would work good for me if i had the subs hooked up in stereo. so, what is the difference, each sub would be recieveing 200watts with both amp if i set them up how i said for each one.

 

The lady is a moron. You can run a 1ohm amp to your subs as long as your impedence doesn drop below 1ohm. You can do 2 things:
1) Run a sub to each channel so each channel will be going at 4 ohms.

2) Best way, bridge the two subs. You can go parallel then or run themn in series. Since they are 4 ohms each, if you parrallel them, you will have a final impedence of 2 ohms. If you series them, it will be at 8 ohms.

Get an amp that can handle 2 ohms bridge, not each channel. Not every amp can do this keep in mind. 400 watts is more then enough for those speakers. 800 is a bit too much, you can push that much but your voice coils wont be lasting too long. Good luck.

 

Maybe she is just bringing up the point that the infinity power rateings are not accurate. Some amps are overrated and others underrated. You have to check this stuff out. FInd out what the fuse size is. Then multiply by 0.7 fr class D and 0.45 for class AB. That's roughly the efficiency of those designs. Take the number you get and multiply by the voltage you expect to realistically have going to your amps. Prabably twelve unless you hook up a large alternator and turn up the voltage regulator. This is close to the max wattage you will see from the amp at the impedance it is primarily designed. When you drop the impedance it gets more confuseing but don't expect wattage to more than double.